Australia's powerful banking regulator has fired another warning shot at the commercial property sector, saying it will further investigate lending standards and consider "additional guidance" if necessary.

Leading today’s headlines, the number crunchers at KPMG have taken a closer look at mainland investment in Australia, and discovered that Chinese like property. Meanwhile, up in Hong Kong, Baring Private Equity has lined up a banking consortium to back its $4.3 billion buyout of private school operator Nord Anglia, and over in Japan old office buildings are finding new life as hotels and homes. Read on for all these stories and more.

The part-time property developer trend is on the rise in Queensland as professionals – particularly construction professionals – look to transform their skills into profits in the wake of the mining downturn, according to Australia’s leading property portal, Development Ready.

Currency & Financial

MELBOURNE, Australia--An Australian startup offering payment-settlement services has secured funding for its international expansion from investors including the Chinese affiliate of Sequoia Capital, one of Silicon Valley's biggest venture-capital firms.

Australia remains the second biggest recipient of Chinese overseas direct investment (ODI) globally, worth A$120 billion (about US$90 billion) of accumulated new investment since 2007, according to the 12th annual survey of KPMG with Sydney University, Demystifying Chinese Investment in Australia, May 2017. The United States ranks first with accumulated new investment surpassing US$100 billion. In 2016, Chinese ODI in Australia continued grow strongly by 11.7 per cent (in Australian dollar terms), rising from A$13.8 billion (US$10.1 billion) to A$ 15.4 billion (US$11.5 billion) from 2015 to 2016.

Interview: Australia needs to make most of economic opportunities with China: Blackmores CEO

Xinhua, 02 May 2017

SYDNEY, May 2 (Xinhua) -- Australia needs to make the most of economic opportunities with China, the chief executive officer of Blackmores said on Tuesday, noting that developing strong economic partnership between the two nations is vital for Australia's long term success.

Australian Vintage in bed with China's biggest online wine retailerAFR, 03 May 2017

Australian Vintage, which sells wine brands including McGuigan, Nepenthe and Tempus Two, has joined forces with the entrepreneurs behind China's biggest online wine retailer in a deal where $16.5 million has been raised in a share placement to Vintage China Fund.

This time last year China appeared to have an insatiable appetite for Australian cattle properties, with numerous Chinese companies buying or pledging to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in large-scale beef operations. However, the anticipated frenzy of buying activity has halted, with the last significant sale made eight months ago.

Resources

China's coal imports take temporary hit from Australian cyclone: Russell

Reuters, 03 May 2017

China's coal imports from the seaborne market fell in April, with top exporting countries unable to fully cash in on the loss of Australian shipments in the wake of a powerful cyclone that knocked out mines and infrastructure.

Retail & Tourism

China Craves Foreign Goods. Students in Australia Supply Them.

NY Times, 02 May 2017

MELBOURNE, Australia — Zhang Yuan’s business started with favors for relatives: an aunt who wanted baby formula, a cousin looking for Ugg boots. She was a college student here in Australia, and every dollar helped, so she mailed the items back to China and charged a bit of a commission.

889 million MAUs, 10 million+ official accounts and 200K+ third-party developers. In the past 7 years, WeChat has established an extensive ecosystem centering this mega messenger application, and becomes a vital part of China’s mobile internet today.

As social media influencers continue to leverage their massive fan bases to command significant compensation from brands in exchange for mentions, marketing departments across the world are beginning to look more closely at the ROI they receive from these promotions. This is especially true in China, which is rife with self-proclaimed key opinion leaders (KOLs) and easily purchased followers and pageviews.

Australian Hoteliers Are Having a Hard Time Finding Space for a Record Number of Chinese Tourists

Dan Peltier, Skift, 05 May 2017

China is the largest jackpot that many destinations including Australia are aggressively targeting but they should also ensure they have enough hotel rooms to keep up with demand before they open the marketing campaign and flight floodgates.

SIV

Australia to review millionaire migrants rule as it tightens immigration

ABS CBN News, 03 May 2017

SYDNEY - Australia will this year review visa rules for wealthy would-be migrants, mostly Chinese, a government official said on Wednesday, as the country tightens requirements for granting residency rights.

China Domestic

After Failed Talks With Kushner, More Trouble for a Chinese Tycoon

New York Times, 01 May 2017

BEIJING — Wu Xiaohui, the Chinese tycoon who was in failed talks with President Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, to buy into a skyscraper project in Manhattan, is fighting allegations of financial chicanery and has threatened to sue a Chinese magazine that examined his company’s labyrinthine funding.

When Jack Ma, executive chairman of the Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba, met with President Donald Trump in January, he made a promise: The online sales platform would give one million U.S. small businesses entrée to the Chinese market. Ma also said that this effort would create one million new U.S. jobs. He is even planning a conference in June to teach U.S. businesses how to sell to the company’s 443 million customers in China.

Xixi South Village, a small village in Anhui, China, has set up “Integrity Bank” for villagers to deposit their upright behaviors. Since then, villagers witnessed and enjoyed a better change in the small village, with better local securities, environment, and less dispute.